


Sacrifice

by TUA (IAMS)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Number Five | The Boy Gets A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27956135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAMS/pseuds/TUA
Summary: The Hargreeves inadvertently find out that Five does, in fact, love them.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) & Everyone
Comments: 9
Kudos: 196





	Sacrifice

The Handler laughs and it’s an ugly, harsh sound. “You fight so _hard_ for them.” she coos at Five. “And for what? Not a single one of them would bat an eye if you decided to go up and missing again-you’re smart enough to know that.” 

Five pretends her words don’t sting the way they do. He scoffs. “Is there a point to this monologuing?” 

“I have to ask,” The Handler continues on as though she hadn’t heard him utter a single word. “Are their sad, pathetic lives-their so called happiness-is that really worth _your_ life?” 

Five folds his arms across his chest. “You don’t really care.” 

She waltzes across the room and leans forward when she’s within reach of the man trapped in the body of a pubescent child. “True.” The Handler runs the back of her hand slowly down Fives cheek, her lips upturned by the subtle little flinch that doesn’t escape her notice. “Call it curiosity.” she says. “You are nothing but a faint-perhaps even unpleasant-memory, to those you call a family. And worse still, now you’re just the boy who cried ‘apocalypse’, who appeared to ruin and burden their lives right at the final hour.” 

“I’m just trying to stop the end of humanity as we know it.” Five shrugs in an attempt to brush off her comments. “I don’t see what one has to do with the other.” 

The Handler raises an intelligent brow. “Is that so?” she grins, her lips puckering. “Then I have wonderful news for you.” she swivels around and practically skips back over to her desk. She holds up a single manilla folder. “Do you know what this is?” 

“I’m sure you’ll shine a light on that soon enough.” Five sighs, teleporting across the room so that he’s sitting with one leg crossed over the other atop her desk behind her. He revels in the way she jumps in surprise-though she does a decent job of hiding it. 

She turns to face him. “This,” The Handler says, “Is the _only_ way the Temps Commission will ever let you, Five, alter the timeline to stop the apocalypse, without making a whole big fuss over it.” She hands him the file without any qualms and Five knows there’s a catch. 

There’s always a catch. 

He flips it open to view the contents, all the while keeping one eye on The Handler, in case she were to try anything. He stares at the letters and the numbers on the page and it all makes terrible sense. Five closes the folder abruptly and rips the entire thing in half several times over, tossing the remains onto the floor. 

“That’s your final answer?” The Handler shakes her head in disappointment. “So much wasted potential. You could have been great.” She makes a show of looking down at her watch. “Would you look at the time. I should get going, but if you change your mind,” she boops his nose. “You know where to find me. Now, remember to close up behind you.” And just like that, she’s gone, brushing her dress down and adjusting her hat before heading out. 

The silence lasts about ten seconds before the storage door bursts open and his siblings clamor out, gasping for air. “God, it was so cramped in there! And Luthers giant ass was hogging up all the space!” Diego complains. 

Luther ignores the jab and crouches down to take a look at the file-now in pieces on the white granite tiles. “Why wouldn’t you take the deal? Whatever’s in this thing could solve everything! No more apocalypse!” 

Vanya nods. “Luther’s right Five, we should at least consider-” 

“It’s garbage, forget it. We need to focus on finding a way out of-” 

Allison interrupts Five. “Ok well, I’d like to know what this ‘garbage’ solution to the literal end of the world is before we veto it.” she helps Luther and Vanya piece together the folder. 

“We don’t have time-” 

“This is...” Allison stares at the ‘solution’ in her hands once they’ve managed to make it whole again. “What the hell?” 

“To save the world we need to get rid of...us?” Vanya frowns. There in black and white ink, it states, that to stop the apocalypse without repercussion, the Hargreeves must be eliminated from the current timeline.

Luther shakes his head. “Why would she offer you this? A suicide mission?” 

Allison looks at Five, having worked it all out. “It’s not a suicide mission, though. She offered him a job-kill us and he stops the apocalypse once and for all, and probably a cushy position here at the agency, no?” 

Diego whistles low. “And you didn’t take it? Not that I’m complaining. Real happy to still be alive and kicking but damn.” Stopping the apocalypse-that awful thing he was forced to live through for so long?-that’s been Five’s single minded goal this entire time, right? It doesn’t make sense. 

Klaus teasingly says, “Aw, guys, I think maybe old man Five loves us?” 

Five swipes the tattered file from Allisons hands and dumps the pieces into the trash can beside The Handlers desk. “No shit.” he bites out. “Look, we’re wasting time, everyone gather around, we need to get out of here.” He turns around only to be engulfed in the giant arms of his biggest brother, Luther, who lifts him off his feet in the hug. “Luther, what the hell?” he kicks out in an attempt to be put back on solid ground, with zero success. 

“Dude, you do love us.” Diego grins, throwing an arm around his shoulder. “You totally just admitted that shit.” 

The others quickly join in what is definitely now a group hug. Five sighs, realizing he’s trapped and that no amount of squirming will help. “I should have taken the deal.” 

Vanya squeezes him a little tighter from behind. “But ya didn’t. Cause you _looove_ us.” 

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my tumblr: mynumberfivethings
> 
> thank you for reading :)


End file.
